Domestic appliance



K. CLARK DOMESTIC APPLIANCE Oct. 1, 1946.

Filed Aug. 14, 1941 iii l\ Patented Oct. 1, 1946 DOMESTIC APPLIANCE Kendall Clark, Oakwood, Ohio, assignor to General Motors Corporation, Dayton, Ohio, a corporation of Delaware Application August 14, 1941, Serial No. 406,881

This invention relates to domestis appliances, and more particularly to clothes washing machines.

An object of this invention is to provide a washing: machine in which the clothes may be washed andcentrifugally dried, and in which the rotating parts of the machine are counterbalanced in an improved manner.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, wherein a preferred form of the present invention is more clearly shown.

In the drawing:

The figure is a vertical cross-section of the machine, somewhat diagrammatically shown.

A machine embodying features of my invention may include in general an outer cabinet or frame It having an upper compartment ll provided with a bottom wall or support l2. The bo tom wall I2 is provided with an opening [3 around which is placed a flexible collar I4, of rubber or the like, which is supported on the wall l2 around the opening is. A rotatable basket 15 is supported on and above the collar [4, while a power casing I6 is supported on and below the collar M by a flange Ma. The power casing i6 is drivingly connected to the basket l through the medium of a shaft H. The shaft I l is connected through a transmission IS with a motor [9 in the casing It.

In addition, an agitator 26 may be placed in the basket l5 and may be drivingly connected' with the power casing it through the medium of a vertically reciprocable shaft 2| which is also connected to the motor l9 through the transmission l8. The agitator 20 is vertically reciprocable, and has imparted thereto a series of short vertical Vibrations of such extent and speed as to produce a toroidal action to liquid enclosed Within the basket I5. The agitator is provided with a flexible ring 22 along its lower periphery in order to produce this toroidal action. A flexible ,bellows 2la, or similar seal, is hermetically secured to the shaft 2| and the basket l5 to prevent the flow of water out of the basket or into the transmission casing Hi.

The details of the basket I5, agitator 20, transmission l8, motor I9 and shafts I1 and 2| are substantially the same as those disclosed in my copending application Serial No. 358,871, filed September 28, 1940 for Domestic appliance, now Patent No. 2,366,236 to which reference is made, if necessary for a further disclosure thereof.

The machine is counterbalancedin a manner 3 Claims. (01. 68 2s) somewhat different from that disclosed inmy Patent No. 2,366,236. The basket I5 is provided with -a rotatable counterbalancing or stabilizing weigh-t '23 carried by, and secured to, the lower portion of the basket l5 to rotate therewith as a unit; Thi counterweight 23 preferably is in the'form of a ring and is placed at the lower portion of. the basket, as indicated. A non-rotatable counterbalancing or vibration damping weight 24 is resiliently supported on the power casing [6 through the medium of flexible rods 25 to oscillate with respect to said casing and with respect to the supporting wall l2. The weight 24 preferably is in the form of a ring surrounding the portion 26 of the casing Hi.

The motor l9 preferably is of the type which imparts a predetermined maximum speed of rotation to the basket l5. The weight 24 is resiliently supported by rod springs 25. The springs 25 are shown as straight metallic springs for the purpose of illustration, but coiled metallic springs or rubber spring may be used interchangeably to accomplish the same results. The weight 24 and the springs 25 comprise a vibrating system which is tuned to vibrate at or near the frequency of said predetermined maximum speed of rotation of said basket. When so constructed the weight 24 and the springs 25 act as a tuned vibration absorber for the washing machine mechanism and absorb unbalanced vibrations caused by spinning an unbalanced load in the basket.

The lower portion of the frame In is provided with a limiting structure or cup 30, while the bottom of the power casing I6 is provided with a rubber snubber or wheel 3| rotatably mounted on the stationary shaft 32. This snubber construction tends to limit the maximum centrifugal deflection of the system.

In operation, clothes and washing liquid may be placed in the basket [5, which is constructed to retain the liquid and clothes by reason of an outer imperforate basket33 surrounding an inner perforate basket 34, the perforations being arranged as disclosed in my Patent No. 2,366,236. The transmission I8 is set so that the motor l9 imparts vertical vibration to the agitator 20 and produces a toroidal action in the clothes and liquid, This action continues for the necessary period of time to clean the clothes. Thereafter the transmission I8 is set so that the motor I!) rotates the basket I5 and attains the predetermined maximum speed. During this rotation, a vortex is produced in the liquid, and the scum is removed from the bottom of the vortex by the lower perforations in the basket 34. Thereafter substantially all of the liquid is removed from the clothes by continued rotation of the basket, as more fully described in my said copending application. This method of removing scum from the clothes is described and claimed in another copending application Serial No. 335,748, filed May 17, 1940, now Patent No. 2,344,982.

The method of washing the clothes and of spinning the basket tends to distribute the clothes somewhat evenly in the basket; but some unbalance exists. terbalancing weights 23 and 24 is such that the centrifugal deflections in the machine are reduced and kept Within safe limits,

While the form of embodiment of the invention as herein disclosed, constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. A machine comprising a frame, a rotatable basket member, an agitator member in said basket member, a power member drivingly connected to said basket member and said agitator member, said members being movably supported on said frame, a non-rotatable vibration damping weight flexibly secured to said power member and being The construction of the counoscillatable with respect to said frame, and a r0- tatable stabilizing weight carried by said basket.

2. In apparatus for cleaning fabrics and for centrifuging cleaning fluid therefrom, the combination of a container for a body of cleaning fluid and the fabrics to be treated, driving means for agitating the fabrics in the body of cleaning fluid at relatively low frequency for cleaning the fabrics and for rotating the fabrics in the container at relatively high frequency, in the absence of said body of fluid, for centrifugally extracting fluid from the fabrics, means for resiliently supporting the container and said driving means as a unitary structure, a balancing mass and means for resiliently carrying said balancing mass upon the unitary structure.

3. A machine comprising a frame; a unitary structure resiliently mounted on said frame and including a rotatable basket, an agitator in said basket, a power member drivingly connected to said basket and said agitator to selectively agitate said agitator and rotate said basket and a rotatable stabilizing weight carried by said basket; and a non-rotatable vibration damping weight flexibly secured to said unitary structure and being oscillatable with respect to said frame.

KENDALL CLARK. 

